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It’s a sad permanent disaster: Devastating bushfires and wildfires now break out on the west coast of the United States every summer. Entire places were also devastated this year and last week people died again from fires. Hundreds of houses were destroyed, tens of thousands of people had to flee from the flames. In the northern California state of Oregon, five cities were “largely destroyed,” as announced by Governor Kate Brown.
The renewed mass spread of the fires was facilitated by a heat wave and a dry wind. Last week there were several meteorological phenomena that fanned hell.
An unusually cold air weather front on September 8 caused pressure conditions in the Rocky Mountains to change and, according to NASA meteorologists, “dry, gusty winds swirled” into several western states.
Foehn winds fueled wildfires in Washington, Oregon and California states. The satellite image from NASA’s Aqua satellite recorded the devastating situation and shows the thick clouds of smoke blowing west toward the Pacific (see image above).
In some cases, the fire became so hot that pyrocumulus clouds formed. Fire clouds are created when extremely hot air rises. They reach very high in the atmosphere and therefore can cover great distances. They also generate violent winds that can further fuel the fire. Lightning can also occur in clouds. There were also fires and extreme weather changes in Colorado: After heat records that continued to heat the fire, the air temperature dropped more than 30 degrees at night and snow fell.
Since August, an extreme heat wave has set new temperature records in several places in Southern California. According to recent studies by US researchers, these extremes are in line with a long-term trend of longer and more intense heat waves in the region.
The map above shows the air temperature in the US on September 6. The data was provided by several satellites that systematically record images for NASA’s Goddard Earth Observation System. Temperatures were measured at a height of about two meters. In the darkest red areas, the model shows temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius. In Death Valley, California, even 54.4 degrees Celsius was measured in August, which was the third highest value ever recorded on earth.
